Tuesday, September 4, 2012

How to become a Nurse Practitioner

Frequently at work other nurses ask me about
my journey through my nurse practitioner program. They want to know what it is
like, how hard it is, and is it worth it. I tell them it is worth it and yes,
it can be hard at times. For some nurses this is just our small talk, and for
years they have asked me the same questions. However, a few are really
interested and I can sense they are feeling the way I was a few years ago. If
they are serious, I will encourage them that this is the time to apply and go
into a Nurse Practitioner or CNS program. Their next worry
is about the admission process.

There are some tricks to increase
your odds of being accepted. However, the first thing is start your paperwork,
goal statement, and lining up those people who will write your reference
letters. In the end, waiting will be the toughest part. As for the reference
letters, they should be from influential people related to the health care
field you want to enter. Preferably, from doctors, alumni, managers and other
nurse practitioners etc, and not your nurse lunch buddy from the renal unit.

Have some volunteer or other experience
to put on your application that reflects your area of interest. They notice if
you are applying for a community health specialty, and the closest thing in
your background is working at Kmart. That does not match your goal, so go volunteer
at a free clinic or somewhere with people. Just because you might have a
family, does not qualify you for a family nurse practitioner. Working with
kids, seniors or under served people not related to you.

Those are some important things,
but what is really important if you want to be in school next fall and not
saying I should have again for another year, then you need to be flexible.

There are many graduate nursing programs
and schools around the country, so you need to apply to more than the one in
your hometown. Chances are the school closest to you is smaller with only a
couple specialties, like family nurse practitioner (FNP) and nurse educator. A
small school near here admitted 12 FNP students last year. Other universities will
offer more areas of study for a nurse practitioner and may have clinical nurse
specialist (CNS) programs. A good option if you want to stay in the hospital
setting.

Then there are the large
universities and institutions that offer an extensive number of specialties for
nursing students. An example of these larger and better-known schools would be the
University of California San Francisco, University of Washington and the University of
Pennsylvania. Yes, there are other big schools like Johns Hopkins
University, but I think these are the biggest and have upwards of 15-20
different specialties beyond a BSN degree. The one I attend has approximately
600 nursing students in the Masters, PhD and DNP programs. Meaning instead of
10 new students a year, they admit more like 150-200. I explained this to a
nurse at work, who was thinking it would be easier to get into a smaller
program. People need to apply to these larger schools.

The other most important thing to
increasing your odds to being accepted at a larger school is to think outside
the box. Having talked to faculty and individuals working in the admissions
office, do not be like everybody else and think specialty.

Your admissions office might be able to give you hints, but the most heavily applied to areas
in my school and probably most are of course the hardest to be
accepted, these include:

Family
Nurse Practitioner: I understand this is by far the most heavily
applied to area and hardest to get into. For some reason everybody wants to be
an FNP, they remind me of the old family practice doctors and they treat just
about everybody. This was not for me, because although I like kids, I do not
want to deal with their parents.

The Nurse Midwife/Women’s Health Nurse
Practitioner

Pediatric Nurse Practitioner.

Acute Care Nurse Practitioner; most schools require at least a year
or two of ICU or ER experience to even apply. Even so, they get more
applications than spots available. Most of these student want to stay in the hospital setting.

Doctors have been specializing for years and I think you will see more
of this in the NP programs, so look at other specialties that interest you. Apply
for an Adult Nurse Practitioner with a
specialty in Occupational and Environmental Healthor a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. Apply for a CNS in
Oncology or Cardiovascular care. If you really do not want to have direct patient
care you can go into research and get your PhD. Adding a minor to your
specialty like forensic science, palliative care or global health can only
help.

Again, the biggest thing is to apply. No matter who wins in November
there is a growing need for nurses with advanced degrees. I remember in the
fall of 2009 thinking I am too old and it will take too long to go back to
school. Well, I am done soon and anyone starting next fall will be done before
the 2016 person is sworn-in.

If you have never been a nurse and have a degree in another area, there is always the MEPN option if you want to be an NP, CNS or other specialty.

So how do you become a Nurse Practitioner. Apply

*This was all my opinion and if you have any questions ask. I only guarantee that if you do nothing you will not get in.

10 comments:

Becoming a NP has been my goal from the very beginning of this journey. I always wanted to open my own practice. As I get closer and experience more I'm sure I may change my mind a couple of times, but that's why it's great to read other people's blogs. I love to be able to "see" what I have to look forward to. Great post :)

Candi, having interacted with so many students of all ages, from all over the world in different medical and graduate nursing programs, I know it is possible. If you need any feedback in the future let me know.

I'm just barely on the other side: my degree posted on August 10 and I'm scheduled to take the AANP FNP cert. exam at the end of September. I did it in a year (that will forever be known in our house as "the year from hell.") but a slower 2-3 year pace is probably a more reasonable expectation if you'd like to feel like you've got any sanity left when you get to the end of your program.

One thing to keep in mind as people are looking at programs is the MSN/DNP debate. Some programs (University of Washington, for one) have moved to DNP only for most of their specialties. I have opinions about the MSN/DNP debate that perhaps I'll write about on my own blog someday. Regardless, it's worth it to consider the debate when applying.

Congratulations on the degree, and good luck on the upcoming test. I could not imagine doing the program in a year; it is chaos during these 2-years.

Thank you for the information about the programs. Yes, many schools have changed to the DNP format or dropped the MSN and now it is the BSN to DNP. Ours is dragging its feet in changing, which works for me. People with advanced degrees in other areas might be able to eliminate some of those extra classes now needed.

I am hesitating about posting my specialty, because then it will be obvious who I am to anyone in school. However, I am enjoying most of school again and this fall I will keep it generic and post about my specialty.

Great article...It's really interesting to read your article..Nurse practitioner is the best professional for those who have potential and a will to take care for others. There are various institutions which provides free nursing courses.

Hi, I wanted to ask you several questions about the NP program. I really want to start possible next spring and would love your feed back about the schools you know. I have already applied to 2 schools and got denied both due to my GPA being low. Can you please email at Kimrogers223@gmail.com. Thank you so much.

I'm a senior in high school and I am interested in becoming a Nurse Practitioner. Very interested, actually. I've been researching it like crazy lately, which is how I stumbled upon this post. I realize that this is an older post, so I'm not sure if you're still active on this blog. I really hope you are, though, because you seem very knowledgeable and I have a few questions.

Okay, first: I really want to be a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. So, conducted a quick online search for a NNP program. Only a few came up, and each of them accepts only a very select few students into their program each year. Is that simply how it is, or am I looking in the wrong place?

Next question. The websites for these few NNP programs all say something similar to that nurses should have about two years of experience with high-risk newborns. Is this type of health care experience something I'll be able to begin as soon as I become a nurse, or is it possible that I'll have to work in a different area before I can do that? The reason I ask is that I would like to go back to school as soon as I can to become a NP.

This leads me to my next question. Is it not recommended to move on to grad school as soon as I've accumulated enough experience (2 years, from what I understand)? Because that's what I want to do. Like I said before, I would like to become a Nurse Practitioner as soon as I can.

I really really appreciate your time. The opportunity to ask an actual person questions is so much more helpful than an online search engine.

I'm a senior in high school and I am interested in becoming a Nurse Practitioner. Very interested, actually. I've been researching it like crazy lately, which is how I stumbled upon this post. I realize that this is an older post, so I'm not sure if you're still active on this blog. I really hope you are, though, because you seem very knowledgeable and I have a few questions.

Okay, first: I really want to be a Neonatal Nurse Practitioner. So, conducted a quick online search for a NNP program. Only a few came up, and each of them accepts only a very select few students into their program each year. Is that simply how it is, or am I looking in the wrong place?

Next question. The websites for these few NNP programs all say something similar to that nurses should have about two years of experience with high-risk newborns. Is this type of health care experience something I'll be able to begin as soon as I become a nurse, or is it possible that I'll have to work in a different area before I can do that? The reason I ask is that I would like to go back to school as soon as I can to become a NP.

This leads me to my next question. Is it not recommended to move on to grad school as soon as I've accumulated enough experience (2 years, from what I understand)? Because that's what I want to do. Like I said before, I would like to become a Nurse Practitioner as soon as I can.

I really really appreciate your time. The opportunity to ask an actual person questions is so much more helpful than an online search engine.